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Arnor's greatest enemy in the north by the middle of the Third Age was Angmar, ruled by the Witch King of Angmar. During the reign of Malvegil (c. T.A.1300), this new power arose beyond the Ettenmoors. This land became populated with the Orcs and Men of Darkness, and began attacking Rhudaur and Cardolan. Eventually this Witch-king was identified as in fact the chief of Ringwraiths. Years later, Argeleb I of Arthedain, reasserted control over Cardolan, and fortified a line along the Weather Hills. Despite this action, Argeleb fell in battle with Angmar and its ally, Rhudaur. His son Arveleg I, however, counterattacked in conjunction with Cardolan and drove the enemy back. He held this frontier in force for quite some years successfully.

By T.A.1409, the Witch-king of Angmar had realised that Cardolan was Arthedain's strongest ally and as long as it stood, so would Arthedain. A direct assault on Cardolan would probably result in disaster as Arthedain would have probably issued from the Weather Hills and struck Angmar's army in the rear or flank.

Therefore, Angmar was compelled to launch an all out assault against the remnants of Arnor, using several forces, one to besiegeRivendell to prevent it from sending aid to Arnor, and through blocking Rivendell, also blocking reinforcements from Lórien. An army to tie up Arthedain along the Weather Hills and Amon Sul, and a final army to destroy Cardolan.

Angmar's attack was highly successful. Rivendell was successfully besieged, and Arthedain was hard pressed along the length of the hills.

In 1409 the Witch-King led a great host across the river Hoarwell against land of Cardolan, after being beaten back out of the lands of the Dúnedain many years before.

When the forces of Angmar reached Weathertop, the main defensive outpost in the Weather Hills and northern Cardolan, they besieged it, until they broke through. The attackers subsequently burned and razed the fortress to the ground. King Arveleg I was killed, and some of the Dúnedain retreated and escaped to Fornost with the Palantír of Amon Sûl that was stationed there.

With it gone the Witch-King was able to take and ravage Cardolan, as well as consolidate his new conquests in Rhudaur, which his Hill Men allies and subjects had taken, as well as launch attacks against the whole of Arthedain. With Arthedain's forces pinned down or routing towards Fornost, Angmar's last army moved into Cardolan, which was a wide and open land, with little to no natural barriers.

It is probable that the Prince of Cardolan gathered what men he could quickly, rather than mustering his entire army, so Angmar's advance could be stopped and Cardolan's agricultural lands would not be laid waste. The Prince attacked, failed and was killed in the process. However, he did enough damage to Angmar so that it lacked the strength to capture Tyrn Gorthad, Cardolan's capital in the Barrow Downs.

However, despite permanently ending the Cardolan threat, Angmar was unable to ride its momentum, and was driven away from the city of Fornost and the North Downs by the forces of the new King Araphor and Lord Círdan of Lindon.

Overall, the campaign was a huge success for Angmar. No longer was Arnor an unbreakable wall of defenses. Although the Second Siege of Imladris was broken and Arthedain routed Angmar with the help of Lindon, Angmar had destroyed Amon Sül, Arthedain's chief defence in the Weather Hills, and Cardolan was on the verge of destruction and highly vulnerable.

Another threat appeared to the northern successor kingdoms, a major plague from the east, in the vicinity of the Sea of Rhûn, northeast of Mordor. This plague, which affected Rhovanion and barely western Gondor, spread northwards to Cardolan.

In Cardolan, it struck severely, wiping out the last of Dúnedain at the Barrow-downs. The Witch-king, exploiting the tragedy, sent evil spirits, the Barrow-wights, to infest the area. The Hobbits of the Shire were damaged by it, but not heavily. The plague lost its strength, however, at this point, so that most of Arthedain was unaffected.

Since Rhudaur had fallen under Angmar's control, this left Arthedain without any allies that could aid them to a great extent. In T.A.1973 Arnor sent a message to King Eärnil II of Gondor that they were in great straits, and that Angmar was preparing it final assault. The King sent his son Prince Eärnur, with a fleet of ships to Lindon to aid Arnor but would not arrive in time.

In T.A.1974 Angmar amassed its forces and launched a final assault on Arthedain. The Witch-king attacked during the harsh winter weather and took Arthedain's capital Fornost. The remnants of it's forces fled west over the river Lune to the realm of Lindon and Arvedui was lost in the Icebay of Forochel-- he later died when his ship sank in a storm.

The Witch-king took the throne in the king's palace, until a year later in T.A.1975 when Eärnur arrived in much joy and wonder among Elves and Men. There were so many ships that the fleet filled Forlond, Harlond, and the Grey Havens; and from them came a large host of Gondor and Rhovanion. Círdan summoned Elves and the remnants of the Dúnedain of the North and marched north across the Lune, to challenge the Witch-king in Fornost.

The Allies passed of over the southern Hills of Evendim when they were met by the forces of Angmar in the plains between Nenuial and Fornost. A great battle began, and when Angmar forces began to retreat back to Fornost when out of the north came the main body of the Allies' horsemen (which had passed around the hills) and scattered in a rout. The Witch-king fled north to the lands of Angmar but was overtaken by the cavalry of Gondor led by Prince Eärnur and a force from Rivendell led by Glorfindel. No Man or Orc of that realm remained west of the Misty Mountains. Angmar was obliterated but the Witch-King fled east over the Misty Mountains.

Fornost was not resettled after the war. It became a deserted place, feared by the men of Bree, who called it Deadmen's Dike. Not until a thousand years later after the War of the Ring under King Elessar was it re-established.